Political gridlock over U.S. debt not just America's problem - latimes.com

Many of us warned, when this issue came up months ago, that the world isn't going to put up with U.S. brinkmanship too much longer. This is not a subject ANYONE wanted to be right about.

Tea Party, cut this cr@p out now.

Here's the harbinger article:

Even the news Wednesday that the partisan battle was about to be suspended until early next year has done little to spare U.S. leaders damage to their reputation as responsible stewards of the No. 1 global economy, analysts warned.

China and Japan are the largest foreign holders of U.S. Treasury bills, with $1.3 trillion and $1.1 trillion, respectively, of Washington's outstanding debt, according to International Monetary Fund data. That makes them the most exposed in the event -- once considered unimaginable but nowadays less so -- that the U.S. Congressfails to raise the debt ceiling by Thursday, when U.S. obligations are expected to exceed the current $16.7-trillion limit.

But with U.S. dollar securities accounting for 62% of all foreign currency reserves in central banks around the world, the recurring threat of default is driving international investors to eye alternative currencies as safer financial havens.

What the Tea Party/GOP has done will have long-term ramifications regardless of whether or not we actually default on the debt ceiling. In other words, "dis ain't ovah".

Before the Tea Party/GOP tries anything again, given that this is only a short term fix, we need to let them all know that they can't do this again. Ever.